Against the Giants: Liberation of Geoff

Hearts of Stone (and arms, legs...)

Session 46

Into the mountains the adventurers go, hiking over the rugged terrain, hauling their supplies. They travel through a storm, climbing higher into the mountains, and on the fourth day they are attacked by a pack of Mountain Lions, which are easily and swiftly dispatched. The next day, as they look for a place to camp, they come across a ring of stones carved with hideous faces. They make camp, and in the night a pair of Pit Vipers crawl into their midst, also quickly dispatched, but not before one bites a sleeping Corvin. Thankfully Halmary manages to neutralise poison, saving his life. They travel on in the morning, and as night falls on their fifth day in the mountains, Sidni and Corvin– scouting ahead– spy an unusual, six-legged lizard– then another; both foraging in some hardy bushes amongst the rocks. With no idea what they are, Sidni decides to shed some light (by lighting a lantern) and lets loose an arrow, thinking that the giant lizards (ten feet long!) are easy prey.

They turn out to be a lot harder.

The pair of lizards slowly advance, their hardened skins deflecting a flurry of arrows. Halmary and Ungrid move into close combat, swinging mace and sword, while Zarkov steps up and blesses their endeavours. Sidni grabs his spear and moves up to lend a hand.

Then one of the lizards bites Halmary: the cleric suddenly freezes in place, as his flesh and bones swiftly turn into icy stone!

Zarkov slaps Sidni on the back, granting him some resistance to cold, which helps him avoid being petrified when the monster– a basilisk as they later learn– turns its gaze upon him. The other tries to catch Ungrid with its icy eyes, but the dwarf manages to avert his eyes while still swinging and cutting into the monster’s flesh. Sidni drops his spear, pulls free Lord Quench, the great two-handed dragon-slayer sword and cuts deeply into the basilisk, slaying it– but not before it turns its gaze on Zarkov, turning the dwarf into icy stone! The other lizard falls to Ungrid’s sword, leaving only three survivors.

Hoping that there is a lair nearby, which perhaps scrolls to restore their friends to life, Sidni and Ungrid follow the monster’s tracks back to the basilisks’ lair: but find only statues, many broken, others frozen in terror.

The remaining three– Ungrid, Sidni, and Corvin– will not abandon their friends, and decide to hike out of the mountains to the nearest city: in this case, Loftwick, capital of the Yeomanry. They travel for a week, avoiding a patrol of Hill Giants on the way, and safely arrive with their statuary carried on crude sledges. They make enquiries, and find a mage of some power in the University. He offers to restore Halmary and Zarkov to life, if the others will do something for him first. With no other choice, they agree.